I traveled and booked unique experiences. Here is what I learned

Viator

The tours and activities sector of the tourism industry has exploded over the last few years. From huge companies to individuals offering personalized walking tours, the options of what to do when we travel has grown exponentially. Tourpreneur is a company that was created in January 2019 to corral all the information in a podcast and daily brief. I had a short getaway scheduled to Phoenix and Sedona last week and decided to try 3 different experiences booking through 3 platforms – Viator, Airbnb Experiences and Get your Guide. Read on to learn what I discovered.

How I found the platforms

Airbnb

I had booked an Airbnb for my lodging since the Sedona hotel rates were out of my budget. Once I booked a room, nearby Airbnb experiences came up. As I wrote recently, all tourism pros should have an Airbnb account so you can understand what is going on and being offered in your area. Because Sedona is known for its outdoor beauty and spiritual surroundings, I chose a hike to do yoga in a vortex! This is a great example of why activities are fun to book – they are way more unique and often can only be done as part of a group.

GetYourGuide

I was not as familiar with this platform but Shane Whaley, CEO of Tourpreneur suggested I try it. Out of all the Sedona offerings, I decided to try the nighttime UFO tour. I mean, how cool would that be?! ( Turns out, pretty cool!)  They have an app but I booked through my laptop.

Viator

The granddaddy of activities booking and owned by TripAdvisor. I have booked with Viator before and have the app on my phone already. [I had also worked with Viator directly when I worked at the Corning Museum of Glass to have our tickets sold on that platform]

 

The Booking Process

yogaAirbnb

The Airbnb platform already has my payment information stored so it was easy to add an experience to my trip. I received a booking confirmation in my inbox, and it was stored in my Airbnb account as well. The time and location of the meeting spot were given, and our guide Sharon sent a detailed message the morning of the hike to tell us where to park and where to meet her. One element I really liked is that Airbnb had the lodging and experience information combined into my ‘trip’ area so I could see everything in one place. It felt like an online travel agency – very organized.

GetYourGuide.

I booked through my laptop and although it was an evening event, the activity time kept showing as 8:30 am. I received a confirmation that I had to print so the QR code could be scanned. The other option was to download the app and use a mobile voucher. I have too many apps on my phone already so I went old school and printed the confirmation. There was an email address for our guide, so I ended up contacting her to ask what time we would be meeting. She responded promptly – 7 pm and for us to try to manifest clear skies. It is Sedona, after all.

Viator

I had originally wanted to try the Verde Canyon Railroad experience, but it had sold out ( on a Monday!) by the time I got ready to book so I turned my attention to the Phoenix area since I was flying out of there. I found a walking food tour of Old Scottsdale and booked that. Viator had my credit card information stored and sent me a confirmation. It also appeared in my app and was easy to access. The address and time to meet were clear.

The Experiences

Airbnb

I joined a group of 5 other women and our guide Sharon had us sign a waiver and off we went, into a State park area. She had brought a yoga mat for each of us and after a short hike where she stopped to give us information on the plants and history of the area, we arrived at a flat plateau of rocks.

We set up our mats there- (her company is one of the few allowed to be in this area) and proceeded to have a yoga class with the best views in the world. The group also had a mother and daughter from Chicago on a birthday trip and three young women on a hiking getaway from Long Island. The yoga session was about 45 minutes and we took group pictures at the end. Sharon was knowledgable about Sedona and yoga and her relaxed demeanor made it easy for all of us to have fun.

 

GetYourGuide

Sedona UFO tourI convinced a friend to go with me on this one and we got a phone message about 2 hours before the event to confirm our meeting place and time. We drove to a Wells Fargo parking lot where there was a car with a blow-up alien attached to the trunk ( why didn’t I take a picture of that?!). Since we were the only 2 that had booked that evening, we quickly followed our guide Micheal out of Sedona and down a dirt road for about a mile ( did I mention I was glad I wasn’t alone?).

Micheal gave us a good overview of the night sky and why Sedona is such a great place to see UFOs. He showed us how to recognize aircraft and satellites, and that we would be looking for anything moving in the sky that wasn’t those! Then he gave us each a pair of military-grade night binoculars and a laser. And he spent some time pointing out constellations that were very easy to see through binoculars when he pointed a laser at them.

It was like a personal planetarium show. And then… we saw one. A round orb that was moving across the night sky with no blinking lights like a satellite or plane. Then we saw another and another. It was like a galactic superhighway up there that night! The experience lasted a bit over an hour, but that was enough to make us UFO converts! We had to go debrief over hot tea and dessert and discuss what we had just experienced. It was amazing.

Viator

Food tourI drove to Old Town Scottsdale and found the tour guide waiting at the meetup spot. There were 3 couples and me. Two of the couples were related and were down to watch Chicago spring training games and the other couple was snowbirds from Canada. Our guide Jason was personable and knowledgable. We walked to 4 different restaurants in this sprawling district and had signature food at each stop. Jason gave us information about the areas where we were walking as well as the background of each restaurant. The group I was with was very friendly and the conversation flowed as we ate and drank together. Could we have gone to each of the restaurants ourselves? Of course. But the group dynamics and Jason’s personality made the experience much more than just walking and eating.

food tour
Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts with local honey. Yummy!

Conclusion

Traditional attractions are going to be hard-pressed to keep up with what these activity platforms can provide. Unique experiences, great social proof through pictures and fun stories to tell. My suggestions:

DMOs – get to know some of the people providing tours and experiences in your area. Most of them do not have a tourism background and could use some help in understanding the industry.

Attractions- Reach out to some of the experience providers and see how you can work with them. Can they include a visit to your attraction on their tour? Could they recommend you as a place to visit during their vacation? Can they hand out coupons?

Restaurants– can you be a quick stop on a tour? Just getting people through the door could be enough to make them come back for a meal.

Tour experience providers– The tourism industry in your area has a lot of people that are willing to help you be successful. Reach out to your local tourism office and ask for a meeting. Some are membership-based and there is a fee to join. Some are free for businesses in the area. Either way, get involved in this industry and you will see that the opportunities for you to be successful will increase.

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